Piu Marie Eatwell, The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse (2015)
The best narrative nonfiction, for me, is as fluidly told and as riveting as fiction while still being solidly grounded in fact. In the Kingdom of Ice was one book that reached this ideal, a perfect balance of true-to-life detail and narrative skill. Less successful efforts tend toward either clunky, disjointed assemblage of facts, or frantic speculation in an effort to fill in the blanks.
The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse doesn’t quite reach the summit of great nonfiction in this regard, but it’s still an absorbing story with a factually respectable basis. In 1897, a woman surfaced with the wild claim that her father-in-law, a London merchant, had actually been the fifth Duke of Portland, an ultra-rich, ultra-eccentric aristocrat who was leading a double life. This meant that her son was the the heir of the childless duke…and so a frenzied legal battle commenced, to be played out over decades on a very public stage. Corruption, madness, fortune-hunting, identify theft: it’s all here, in a plot worthy of a Wilkie Collins novel.
In fact, all the ingredients for a fantastic stranger-than-fiction narrative are present, but I was left just slightly unsatisfied. The large cast of characters (identified and listed as such in the front matter) is hard to keep track of, as many don’t have enough personality to be memorable. The device of announcing some startling turn of events but then abandoning it for another narrative thread was also confusing, and some obvious questions were not addressed for too long — where was the evidence of the movements of the duke and his supposed alter ego, for example? I was also a bit skeptical of the scenes that go into certain characters’ inner thoughts and experiences without apparent basis in diary or letters, though these are unobtrusive and plausible enough.
Still, I don’t want to dissuade you from meeting the Dead Duke and his manifold associates. You’ll be immersed in a colorful and dramatic slice of Victorian and Edwardian life, and learn about an example of media frenzy that rivals any to be found in our own times (whole companies were created for the purpose of floating shares to speculate on the outcome of the case). You’ll gain an understanding of historical legal issues that are a bit out of the common, like when it was acceptable to open a grave, and peek into the early days of our criminal justice system. You’ll be grateful for the author’s scrupulous research that turned up important elements overlooked for many years, putting together a puzzle left unsolved by history. And you’ll be tantalized by the still-unknown motive that sparked the whole spectacle. As it delves into the mysteries of the human mind and heart, The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse gives a fascinating window into an era that in many ways is not so far from our own.
Read for the RIP X challenge hosted by the Estella Society
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The Emerald City Book Review Archive 
It’s such a crazy title, and an even crazier premise…especially because it really happened! My library has this book on order, of course…but it’s definitely made my To Read list. 🙂 Great review!
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The wackiness of the whole situation is quite mind-boggling. Really a truth is stranger than fiction scenario.
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The story sounds really interesting.
I do have a little problem with narrative non – fiction however, I think that an author must make things up when employing this style, and I am not comfortable with an uneasy mix of fact and fiction.
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I’m with you there. I’ve stopped reading several “biographies” that were so full of speculation, it would have been more honest to just write them as a novel. In this one, there were just a few parts that bothered me — I can understand the wish to relieve the dryness of history writing with invented scenes, but I wish they would be identified as such.
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The more I hear about this book, the more intrigued I am 🙂
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If you’re interested in the period, there’s lots to enjoy.
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I love the title and I do enjoy narrative non-fiction. I may have to pick this one up, since it is so similar to the historical mysteries I love.
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It’s definitely targeted at lovers of historical mysteries, I think — only this time it’s absolutely true.
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I love the title of this–definitely intrigued me, and like you, I really like narrative nonfiction. I’m sure I will like it, and I imagine I’ll have similar issues to the style that you describe. However, I really enjoy the immersion in the issues of the past. Great review!
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I loved this chance to learn more about a period that never ceases to fascinate me.
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“he best narrative nonfiction, for me, is as fluidly told and as riveting as fiction while still being solidly grounded in fact. In the Kingdom of Ice was one book that reached this ideal” <- Wow, you're like my book twin right now! This is exactly what I like in narrative nonfiction and In the Kingdom of Ice is one of the best books like this that I've read. I'd recommend The Black Count as also doing a good job of this, if you haven't read it yet 🙂
For some reason, the description of this book just didn't appeal to me and given that you're not raving about this, I think I'll stick to my initial feeling and pass on it.
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No, I wouldn’t say it’s a must read, though it’s a solid and worthy one. Any more books like In the Kingdom of Ice, send them my way! That one was absolutely brilliant.
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This sounds so strange that I want to read it to see how it turns out, but maybe, given your review, I won’t rush out immediately to find a copy.
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Keep it on your list — it is a fascinating true-life story, with many interesting twists and turns.
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I love the period for this, so it does interest me. Thank you for sharing.
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Great, I hope you enjoy it!
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